The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Survival Gardening - Evening Primrose, Red clover and Jerusalem Artichoke

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey y'all, welcome to this week's show. We're continuing in our series of Growing Your Survival Herb Garden from my book, Growing Your Survival Herb Garden, for preppers, permaculture people, homesteaders, and everybody else, and that's probably not even the right order, but you get the gist of it. And you may have noticed this book is featured in the Prepper Radio, Prepper Broadcasting, Black Friday catalog. prep for broadcasting uh black friday catalog so if you haven't checked that out um there's a link in the show notes uh all the hosts we put out our stuff and hope that it will make for good um good gifts for you and your family and your loved ones and your friends or for yourself and um you know when someone gives me a an amazon gift card or something I'm always like well what am I gonna do with this so I go on Amazon I don't I don't shop on Amazon a lot and you should I'll find a couple of books that I want to buy or maybe a tool or something you know well all my books are actually on Amazon so if you're looking for a Christmas gift my cookbook my religious books all my

Starting point is 00:01:01 herb books I'm publishing my 12th book next week, by the way, so wish me well. One thing you can't buy through Amazon, though, is my woodwork and my baskets. That you can get from judsoncarrollwoodcraft.substack.com. I even posted anything a couple, well, in a few days, basically because the lady got in touch with me and asked me to carve a couple of spoon sets for her to give as gifts to her family members and it's it's been a sort of a big project so that's a great idea you know if you look on there and you see something you like you know please buy it and go as a gift for somebody if you don't or if you do but it's already been sold which was the case with this she wanted the uh the um traditional cooking spoon set i put one up and it went in

Starting point is 00:01:55 like an hour and she said can you do two more for me and you know that means writhing boards from a log that means cutting them down that means whittling them out that means uh you know seasoning them and oiling them and so that's what i've been doing since she asked um yeah if i can reasonably um get you that gift in time to give to your loved ones for christmas i will take the commission basically all that means is the price doesn't change that spoon set was $50 you know pretty reasonable I've been ridiculously reasonable compared to other carvers I won't say the name but I saw the same guy doing a similar set for like 280 bucks so I mean I'm $50 you know and that includes shipping you know, but you just pay up front.

Starting point is 00:02:46 You know, that's what it takes. I mean, it's just saying I will, you know, I'm reserving this, and then I just go ahead and carve whatever you ask and put in the mail. And so what? It's the end of November. Yeah, I could take another five, ten, fifteen. Actually, I could probably do about 15 commission spoons so don't hesitate if there's something you've seen on the site or you've got an idea

Starting point is 00:03:11 you know a salt bowl like I did in that bird form that's on the site. I've never offered one of those for sale that was a commission piece. Baskets do take more time. I will only take maybe two commission basket clients because, you know, a basket can take 20 to 40 hours and then I sell it for, you know, less than a hundred bucks usually. So that's, that's a huge commitment. And really, you know, it's something I do because I enjoy it. It's pretty unreasonable, the price I sell. I should be asking three, four times as much. But do check out judsoncarrollwoodcraft.substack.com.

Starting point is 00:03:54 See if there's something on there you like. And if it's for sale, you know, go ahead and buy it. And if you say, you know, this item has sold, but I'd like a piece like this or i need two or three um you know let me know now and i'll get to you within a couple of weeks we get there you know plenty of time for christmas if you wait much longer i won't be able to do it um i mean you know knowing the mail the u.s mail i really wouldn't want to take a commission more or less than, I should say, two weeks out from Christmas. Now, I mean, if you order something off my site, it's already done. I can put it in the mail that day.

Starting point is 00:04:31 I send you a tracking number. You know you're going to have it in three, four. I mean, well, I just sent some spoons to some ladies in California, two different customers, and they were there within three days. I mean, I was thrilled with that. I mean, it's US Post Office office usps ground is what i use and you get a tracking number with it and that's cool but you do you know they get busy getting toward christmas so you know if you're looking for gifts be better if you'll go ahead and order them now and if you need a commission piece specific request please go ahead and order it within the next week or two.

Starting point is 00:05:09 Because I don't trust the post office. You know, I know how quickly, I mean, you know, it's going to take me a couple of days to carve a spoon. I mean, it really is a handmade thing that takes time and effort. Then a couple of days to dry, did it, you know, oiled with walnut oil, packed up and shipped. But I don't trust the post office to, you know, to get things there that quickly as we get close to Christmas. So if you want to order something, I would encourage you to do it as quickly as possible, but at least within the next two, three weeks, right? I mean, you know, we'll probably be good. But the books, you can order them at Amazon, and Amazon gets them to you in the blink of an eye.

Starting point is 00:05:46 I don't think anybody beats Amazon. And if it comes down to a last-minute gift, remember, a subscription to my Substack newsletter, the person gets free e-books. Or you could just order them an e-book, you know, from me. And if you forgot, and it's Christmas morning, and you need something, email me and tell me, I forgot to buy a book for my mother-in-law. I'm buying a book right now off your website for $9.99.

Starting point is 00:06:12 I'll get it to you within an hour. No problem. I'll be online unless the power goes out or something. Worst case scenario, we did have a terrorist attack last Thanksgiving. So it's not beyond the bounds of possibility, but even then, I was able to get somewhere and find Wi-Fi to check my email at least once that day, so I, you know, I'll get you the stuff as quickly as I possibly can, so remember me for, you know, long-term, you know, gifts that would take a little while to get there,

Starting point is 00:06:45 or if you need something last minute, absolutely. And do check out the Prepper Broadcasting catalog. You might see a lot of things in there. There's stored food and other types of books and tools and things. You know, make some great gifts. Really good. So let's talk today about Evening Primrose. This is a recognized

Starting point is 00:07:08 medicinal herb. The oil of the seed is popular for women's issues and skin complaints. Lesser known is that the leaves are astringent and sedative, particularly good for asthma, whooping cough, and diarrhea. Even less well known is that evening prism rose is a delicious edible that's actually the way i usually use it the flowers are great in salads the root though um that's that's the price that that's something you know root vegetables really stretch out your your diet uh you know i mean everybody potatoes that's your staple right carrots and parsnips and you know anything jerusalem artichokes if you want to put in context of a wild vegetable these are things you can store and count on through the winter you can grow evening primrose

Starting point is 00:07:55 in your garden super easy to grow i mean really i'm not even going to get into how to grow it it's just you know this is one of those that uh you may find growing wild or you can put in your garden it's pretty no one's going to think anything of it and you can have all these wonderful roots out there and you know worst case scenario you you need food and go out in the winter and dig these up the plants died back you know where it is right but you can go out there in the winter and dig these up and then they actually taste more like parsnips than anything else uh how do i describe a parsnip most people these days have never eaten a parsnip a parsnip is like a cross between a carrot and a turnip if that makes any sense really good roasted excellent in soups and i mean this is what I'd grow as a survival food as well as being medicinal because the young shoots of the plant are really probably the way I eat it most there's

Starting point is 00:08:54 sort of asparagus light they come up in the in the spring and that's that's you know that's a go-to for me really I have you know I always try to include it in the garden and as i said very medicinal as well now one that's really interesting and kind of along the lines of evening primrose is red clover now red clover it's considered a woman's herb it has some estrogenic type properties plants for a future says red clover is a safe and effective herb with a long history of medicinal usage it is commonly used to treat skin conditions normally in combination with other purifying herbs such as Arctic and that's a burdock room exits doc which we talked about a couple weeks ago

Starting point is 00:09:41 it is a folk remedy for cancer of the breast and concentrated decoction being applied to the site of the tumor in order to encourage it to grow outwards and clear the body. I'm not saying that's going to work or not. I give no recommendations for cancer because it's wrong to give people false hope. And bad people give herbalism a bad reputation for saying, this herb will cure cancer. No, I'm not saying that. And I don't know whether red clover helps at all with tumors of the breast.

Starting point is 00:10:20 You'll have to look into that yourself. You'll have to look into that yourself, okay? But anyway, flavonoids in the flowers are estrogenic and may be a benefit in the treatment of menopausal complaints. That's what's mostly used these days. The flowering heads are alternative, which means kind of gradually brings you back to health. Antiscrofulous means helps with infected glands around the throat. Antispasmodic, no, it helps against cramps and muscle pain such

Starting point is 00:10:47 a parent a detergent diuretic expectorant sedative tonic i think you got all that it is also has shown anti-cancer properties um it uh said the poultices of the herb have been used as It said the poultices of the herb have been used in local applications to cancerous growths. Internally, the plant is used in the treatment of skin complaints, especially eczema and psoriasis, and it's very good for that. I've used it. Well, people I know who've used it, who may have asked my advice, and I say I don't give medical advice, but here's an idea, may have used it to good effect. And cancers of the breast, as we said, ovaries and lymphatic system, chronic degenerative diseases, gout, whooping cough, and dry cough. It's actually very good for coughs and asthma, by the way.

Starting point is 00:11:39 The plant is normally harvested as it comes into flower, and some reports say that only the flower is used the toxic let's see endo lazardine alkaloid slupharamine is often found in diseased clover so always make sure it's healthy the healthy plant doesn't have that and the but however this alkaloid that which is actually toxic is being studied for its anti-diabetic and anti-aids activity so very interesting plant now how do I use this plant very rarely herbally very rarely herbally except for coughs and such where I find it very good wild red clover grows all over the place in the mountains anywhere the sunlight can get to a patch of grass you're gonna

Starting point is 00:12:34 find clover and it's gonna be that red clover and the flowers are sweet they're delicious I limit my consumption because they do have an estrogenic quality I have never even considered growing this in the garden because it grows wild everywhere now if you live where the clovers don't grow wild you really want to consider growing clovers the reason is they're leguminous plants. They actually absorb nitrogen from the air and fix it in the soil. That's really unique. You know, fertilizer, nitrogen-based fertilizers, give nitrogen to plants that cannot take nitrogen from the air and fix it in their roots.

Starting point is 00:13:24 These leguminous plants, these clovers and many others, including cowpeas and gosh, mimosa trees, I mean anything in the family basically. Kudzu was an excellent, you ever wonder why kudzu grows so rampantly, rampantly I should say, or wisteria grows like crazy? It's because it can fertilize itself by pulling nitrogen out of the air and putting it in the soil through a fungal relationship. But anyway, before grass became popular, most people planted white clover in their lawns. You know, it didn't need to be mown. It grows and it actually fertilizes the soil the more of these plants you can get in your ground the healthier your tomatoes are going to be and your cucumbers and i mean you're going to you know

Starting point is 00:14:18 it's like free fertilizer that's actually good for the soil and doesn't exhaust it with chemicals so uh whether you're looking at this herbally or whether you're looking at it as what we might call um well a nitrogen fixing plant or what they would call a green manure you know that keeps pulling in all this nitrogen you can actually kind of compost it down and rot it and I mean it's just just incredible incredibly rich in everything all your other plants need for growth to grow vibrantly and healthy your leguminous plants the whole legume family fantastic really even up to locust trees I mean they're great black locust is better than honey locust I I like them both honey locust is fantastic because the seed pods have well on molasses like substance in it you can make your own sugar from a honey locust

Starting point is 00:15:15 tree you can bring your own beer from honey locust tree they're great and if you want a plant that will draw game to your property if you mean if you really want to plant something that's going to bring up a lot of deer and well bears and everything around here coons and possums and i mean we got it all turkeys wild turkeys are roosting up in the trees but anyway um can't beat a honey locust uh you know apples will certainly do the same but i mean honey locust they grow like crazy and black locusts are not as good they don't have that sugary gum in in the bean pod that the honey locust has but the honey locust is not as nitrogen fixing as the black locust some people say it may not fix nitrogen at all you have to figure it out

Starting point is 00:16:05 locust. Some people say it may not fix nitrogen at all. You have to figure it out. I happen to be very fond of honey locust and they grow these huge thorns which you can actually use like nails or needles. They're actually hard enough you can use them like nails. I mean I wouldn't like pound on them with a hammer or something but that's actually what our ancestors used before they you know made nails out of metal so I can see a million uses for the locust trees in you know a survival situation they can also be coppiced it means you can cut them off and they grow back so you can just keep harvesting the same tree over and over for firewood or carving wood or whatever you happen to need. Wonderful plants. But I normally use red clover flowers in a salad. Or if I've, you know, grilled some trout and throw a few wild greens on the side, I want to look fancy for a date or something. Yeah, the girls love the flowers on the plate. You know, I guarantee that. So cut a few chives and throw a few flowers on there, and whoo, that looks great.

Starting point is 00:17:08 And, you know, I look like a great chef. And I actually am, in the words of Jester Wilson, a damn good cook, I guarantee. But I am by no means a chef. I don't pay attention to plating whatsoever. I just put something on a plate and eat it. But, you know, if you're entertaining a lady, you want to put a little, arrange things so they look pretty. You know, they say you eat with your eyes first. I actually eat with my nose first. If it smells good, I eat it. And I, you know,

Starting point is 00:17:35 if I cared about what food looked like, I wouldn't eat as much Chinese food as I do. And let's be honest, it looks like a plate of vomit. And that's usually the best Chinese food I'm just saying that they don't really get into plating but it's pretty hard to beat and when the smell of those leeks and green onions and ginger and garlic hits my nose man I could eat some Chinese food let me tell you and yeah no anyway if you want to impress your lady, put some flowers on the plate. That's all I'm saying. Make sure they're edible flowers. Go with some violets.

Starting point is 00:18:10 Go with some nasturtiums like we talked about last week. Borage flowers, red clover is absolutely perfect. So a minute ago, I mentioned Jerusalem artichokes. A minute ago, I mentioned Jerusalem artichokes. Tubers. In a survival situation, really your tuberous, tuberiferous vegetables, is that what we call them? Your potatoes and your onions and your parsnips and anything that grows a root. Burdock is one we discussed before.

Starting point is 00:18:43 It has an excellent root that nobody harvests anymore, and it's fantastic. One of the very best is Jerusalem artichoke. Now Jerusalem artichoke is not an artichoke. I love artichokes but the Jerusalem artichoke has no relation to the thistle plant whatsoever which is where Jerusalem artichokes come from which is where real artichokes come from. The Jerusalem artichoke is actually a wild sunflower. Yes, the sunflower we get the seeds from. Well, this one is grown more for the roots. It has nice roots about the size of small potatoes. And if you find a patch of them, you can probably fill a couple bushel baskets full of them.

Starting point is 00:19:21 They're fantastic. Now, the reason they're called Jerusalem artichokes one they don't come from Jerusalem to their not artichoke the Spanish encountered this plant and it actually comes from the Spanish name for sunflower it was Gerasol and somehow that became Jerusalem to english-speaking folks who heard it. How it got the name artichoke, I have no idea. Don't even ask me. But some people call them sunchokes.

Starting point is 00:19:52 They go by different names. But they grow wild all over around here in the mountains where I live. We have several members of the sunflower family. Not all of them bear roots. So I'm always kind of poking around at the bottoms of plants, trying to make sure I've got the right ones, because they can look pretty similar. Whereas sunflowers are grown through seeds, the Jerusalem artichokes grow through tubers. I would recommend you grow both. They're very pretty flowers.

Starting point is 00:20:18 They're going to look good in any flower garden. No one's going to complain about them. They're very nutritious and medicinal. Now, sunflowers uh can be huge i mean the russian sunflowers are massive um massive some only grow about a waist high uh the flowers are always bright and cheerful they turn to face the sun they can actually help you figure out where you are if you're lost um they're yellow they're sunny who doesn't like them right and i mean frankly if all you know the plants is a few salted seeds between the innings when playing baseball you are going to be very surprised and yeah i grew up munching on sunflower seeds playing baseball the for instance plants for

Starting point is 00:21:01 future says medicinal uses of sunflower, a tea made from the leaves is astringent, diuretic, and expectorant. It is used in the treatment of high fevers. The crushed leaves are used as a poultice on sores, swelling, snake bites, and spider bites. The leaves are harvested as the plant comes into flower and are dried for later use. A tea made from the flowers is used for the treatment of malaria and lung ailments. The flowering head and seeds are febrifuge, which means help to explore a fever, nutritive and stomatic, good for you and helps settle a stomach. The seed is also considered to be diuretic and expectorant. It has been used with success in treatment of many pulmonary complaints a decoction

Starting point is 00:21:46 of the root has been used as a warm wash on rheumatic joints and as for medicinal uses of jerusalem artichoke it is reported to be a parent aphrodisiac believe it or not colagogue diuretic sperm out of togenic means it increases sperm count supposedly i don't know who knows stomatic and tonic jerusalem artichoke is a folk remedy for diabetes and rheumatism so medicinal use most people don't even know about who doesn't love sunflowers i mean i do and and again in a bad situation you know you can press oil out of sunflowers. It can actually run your vehicle if you drive a diesel, and you should. If you're a prepper, you better be looking in a diesel. I mean, there's so many things you can do with diesel you cannot do with a gasoline engine.

Starting point is 00:22:37 But anyway, you can put your sunflower seeds in bread. You can actually make a sort of a peanut butter type spread out of them. You can just toast them. You can just eat them raw. And then your roots from the Jerusalem artichoke could, I mean, literally save your life. I mean, come on, if you were starving and you had a big old pot of those with some oil or butter or just salt, I mean, that's going to keep you going for weeks. I mean, yeah, definitely grow these going for weeks I mean yeah definitely grow

Starting point is 00:23:05 these plants and they're beautiful they are absolutely ornamental sunflowers all sunflowers like dry soil and a sunny spot but the Jerusalem artichoke prefers shade and damp areas so you I mean you can grow at least one of these on your property. Other than that, they're extremely tolerant of different climates and very easy to grow. I mean, there are sunflowers bred for probably every climate on earth. Jerusalem artichokes, like a damp soil in some shade. So, I mean, they will grow where other things won't. And the great thing about Jerusalem artichoke roots, they don't spike the blood sugar. They don't affect the insulin levels way potatoes

Starting point is 00:23:46 and such do so diabetics can usually eat Jerusalem artichokes even if you know if they're having trouble with potatoes and such now there is one caveat they contain in. That inulin is the sugar that diabetics can eat without spiking their insulin levels. But it can be difficult to digest. In fact, your body has to learn to digest it. It will actually adapt to it over time if you eat small amounts. If you had never eaten anything with inulin in it, which more than likely given the modern American diet you haven't, and you sat down to a big meal of Jerusalem artichokes, you would be in absolute agony the rest of the night. And so would everybody with you because it causes extreme flatulence. Until your body learns to digest that sugar, it will produce gas.

Starting point is 00:24:48 So, if you're going to grow Jerusalem artichokes, if you're going to forage for them, like I do, if you're going to learn to eat them, a little bit at a time, let your body learn to process this food. Several, several plants contain inulin. The root of dandelion and chicory and burdock, burdock contains inulin. The more wild foods you get into, the more you're going to be eating inulin containing roots. So start slowly and don't have a big meal if you've got anybody around because you trust me you don't want to share a tent with someone who eats a big serving of boiled or roasted and buttered Jerusalem artichokes who's never encountered them

Starting point is 00:25:38 before you remember that scene from Blazing Saddles yeah that's about what we're talking about it this is another greatest movie I yeah I'm a huge Mel Brooks fan actually Young Frankenstein Young Frankenstein whatever it was that was my favorite but Blazing Saddles I love it when um Gene Wilder is talking about why he stopped being a gunfighter and started drinking so heavily and you know he'd been the greatest gunfighter in the west he said his reputation just spread everybody wanted to fight him one day he's walking down the you know down the street and here's a voice said draw mister turns around guns pulled and it's a nine-year-old kid he says well what'd you do he said well i put my gun away and walked away what happened then little bastard shot me in the

Starting point is 00:26:25 ass oh i hope you don't buy the colorful language that is one of my favorite movies of all time i love everything mel brooks it did actually i've actually sat through the 12 chairs which was difficult not not his funniest uh movie but um if you ever encounter anyone from ukraine or poland or russia they're gonna love it that is like i mean for some reason no i'm serious the central eastern europeans love that film it comes from a traditional folk tale apparently from their region and yeah anyway uh that was i think the first movie he did it's amazing he even had a career after that it was really not um for an american audience at all but anyway um space balls you can't beat that silent movie the producers wow

Starting point is 00:27:19 he did so much great stuff um we won't count dracula dead and loving it that was that was pretty bad pretty awful actually or robin hood men in tights uh yeah there are a few memorable lines from that one but uh anyway um yeah mel brooks or like the zooker abrams zooker fans like uh films like airplane naked gun oh man i grew up on that stuff i mean i thought you know warped my humor forever anyway y'all have a uh great week um let me know if i can carve anything for you or if there's something you want went off my site you know let's get some let's go ahead and get some christmas gifts under those trees for the people we care about and um remember even the christmas tree has medicinal uses.

Starting point is 00:28:05 The needles are very high in vitamin C, make a wonderful tea. However, most trees that come from a Christmas tree farm have been soaked in pesticides and fertilizers. So I definitely prefer to harvest such things from the wild and not from a farm. In fact, where I live is like the Christmas tree farming center of Eastern America and cancer rates are off the chart.

Starting point is 00:28:28 I mean, these chemicals, bad stuff. Bad stuff. In the words of Kramer when he was talking about Kenny Rogers' chicken, mess you up. Anyway, y'all have a great one. I'll talk to you next week. The information in this podcast is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or condition. Nothing I say or write has been evaluated or approved by the FDA. I'm not a doctor.

Starting point is 00:28:55 The U.S. government does not recognize the practice of herbal medicine, and there is no governing body regulating herbalists. Therefore, I'm really just a guy who studies herbs. I'm not offering any advice. I won't even claim that anything I write or say is accurate or true. I can tell you what herbs have been traditionally used for. I can tell you my own experience and if I believe in herbs help me. I cannot nor would I tell you to do the same. If you use an herb anyone recommends, you are treating yourself. You take full responsibility for your health. Humans are individuals and no two are identical. what works for me may not work for you you may have an allergy a sensitivity an underlying condition that no one else even shares and

Starting point is 00:29:35 you don't even know about be careful with your health by continuing to listen to my podcast or read my blog you agree to be responsible for yourself do your own make your own choices, and not to blame me for anything ever.

The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Survival Gardening - Evening Primrose, Red clover and Jerusalem Artichoke

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